Persona: Fragments
by Argos
Summary: When Nate's friend becomes comatose, he takes it upon himself to investigate the cause. Little does he know that everything is part of a greater picture that he unknowingly became apart of when he enrolled in college.


I

Strange Dreams, and an Even Stranger Dreamer

"Mr. Nathaniel Edwards, please can you tell the class what a Persona is?" my psychology teacher asked me.

Crap. What was a persona again? It has something to do with a person's personality. Crap, crap, monkey poop.

"Mr. Edwards?" he asked again, he wasn't irritated, on the contrary, Mr. Samuels loved it when students couldn't answer his questions.

What a bastard. Shoot. Say something idiot.

"Ahh, a persona is," I began, but I had nothing more.

"A persona is a facet of one's personality," Michelle said in her cool clear voice.

Phew dodged a bullet.

Mr. Samuels veered away from me and fixed his gaze upon her. She was sitting on the opposite side of the room, whereas I inhabited a window seat that overlooked the courtyard.

"Continue," he said.

"Well, essentially a persona is the front you put up in front of your friends, teachers, parents, classmates, whatever. A lot of the time people project themselves as someone aside from their true nature, or true persona," she concluded matter-of-factly.

Damn was she smart. I wish I paid more attention to the class like Michelle, but taking psychology just wasn't appealing to me. I needed it as a first year class. Stupid requirements.

"Good work, I can tell who has been listening, and who hasn't," he looked in my direction.

I would have done the reading honestly, but I just don't care.

When class ended I packed away my books and caught Michelle as she was leaving the building.

"Hey thanks for saving me back there, really appreciate it."

"Next time do your homework," she responded curtly.

Ouch.

"Uh, yeah, um next time," I responded as she walked towards the science building. I didn't expect that answer. Looks like the Spring semester is going to be just as amazing as the fall. Fantastic.

"Hey guys," I said plopping my backpack on an empty seat.

It was lunchtime and I sat with the most amazing people in the world, the misfits. First, there was Nora. She was wicked smart, when it comes to reading and academic stuff, but falls a bit short in the common sense department. Her black curls looked especially curly today, and I said so as she dangled a curly fry next to her hair, I bet she was wondering which was curlier, then she eased it into her mouth. Her alabaster skin complemented her hair perfectly.

Next there was Scott, I'm still not entirely sure how we became friends in all honesty. He's crazy athletic and loves to do out-doorsey things. Its not uncommon for girls (and some boys) to bombard him wherever we go. But then again, when you're incredibly tall, tan, and have sand colored hair that screams 'play with me,' its hard to avoid attention from either sex.

"Hey Nate, heard Michelle saved you in psych," Nora said with a grin. One more thing, Nora seems to know everything about everyone. Not sure how she does, but she just does.

"Yeah, is she always a cold bitch in student council too? Actually, hold that thought, I'm gonna grab food first."

I returned ten minutes later with a PB & J and a glass of milk.

I swear I'm eighteen.

"Yeah, she pretty much is. I don't think she really likes anyone to be honest," Nora concluded, turning the page in the book she was reading.

"Somewhere between my third and fourth bite I noticed that Scott was incredibly quiet.

"What's with you today? You're unusually pensive," I said, noticing Scott was continuously poking his macaroni and cheese with his fork.

Scott normally carried the lunch conversation, today he's said nothing.

"I had the weirdest dream. Some monster attacked some girl and she ended up almost dead," he trailed off his voice low and serious. Nora looked up from her book and I gaped with my mouth open.

"Dude, that's deep," I began "Did you save her and did she repay you?" I teased.

"Oh hardy-har-har," he said, a smile cracking across his face. Mission accomplished.

Even though it sounded ludicrous when I first heard Scott mention his dream, I had an even weirder one later that night.

* * *

"Hello," a soft and airy voiced called to me.

I opened my eyes expecting to see my roommate sleeping on his bed, but instead I was taken aback with what I saw. I was sitting in a classroom, but it was not an ordinary room. Everything was purple. I was seated at a desk like they have in elementary school classrooms facing two people I had never seen before. One was an elderly man with a long hooked nose, he was sitting at the teacher's desk and there was a man dressed in a blue suite with a yellow tie standing adjacent to the old man.

I looked around and noticed that the drywall was painted purple and another odd thing, there were no doors, only windows along the left wall.

"Don't be alarmed, for you are still safely asleep in your room in the real world, I have called out to you in your dreams," his airy voiced sent a chill down my spine.

Good, this was a dream. A very strange dream.

"Why am I here?" I asked, playing along. It was a dream after all.

"I summoned you here to fulfill your contract," he responded.

"Contract?"

"Yes, it is right here, Theodore can you bring it to him?" Hooked-nose asked.

"Don't refer to me as 'hooked-nose', my name is Igor," he said.

Oh shit, apparently I conjured a mind-reader.

The man in the suit walked to me and handed me a piece of paper. It was from my school, it's the document that I sent them acknowledging I would be attending in the fall. "Yeah, and?" I asked, obviously not getting what Igor intended.

"Look closely," he said.

"I looked at it once more, and noticed something I didn't see before. At the bottom above my signature was one sentence, and it read: 'I chooseth this fate of mine own free will."

Where did that come from?

Igor smiled, my facial expression must have rendered the reaction he desired. Theodore took the paper back from me and walked back to Igor.

"See, you've entered into a contract with me, and it is almost time for you to start work on it," he said.

"I don't understand."

"It's alright, some who come here are a tad skeptical, but my last three visitors were much more open-minded. You still have doubt clouding your mind, and your soul, but fear not, you shall soon grip what you're meant to grasp. That is all for now, I shall summon you again once its time for you to begin," Igor said, his voice drifting away,

I woke up soon after to see my roommate pull up his jeans, phew dodged a bullet. I looked at the clock and emitted a yawn.

"Oh, its only 8:00 am, I still have time," I said, and with another yawn, my face met my pillow once more.

"Hey, Nate, wake up," my roommate Eric said as he shook me hard. I woke in a daze to see my shaggy haired six-foot two roommate standing eye-to-eye with me as I lay in my bunked bed.

"What?" I asked, wiping the drool from my face. Eric was still looking at me.

"Classes are canceled for the day," he said and then walked away. He looked sad, as if something was troubling him. Nothing troubled Eric, he was always a ray of sunshine. This kid could find a silver lining with any situation, although this wasn't always a good thing. When Nora's dog died last term he told her that at least she didn't have to worry about leaving it behind. He only made things worse.

"How come?" I asked, eying the clock. Wow, I slept until eleven. Good thing classes were canceled otherwise I would have slept through my biology class, although more importantly I wondered why he woke me up if I didn't need to get up.

"There was an accident," he said flatly. While I stirred in bed. Well that was vague.

"What kind of accident?" I asked jumping down onto the floor, I bent my knees to absorb the impact so it looked as if I were swearing fealty to my uncaring roommate.

"Dunno, a student was hurt last night, so they canceled classes for the day," he said with even less emotion.

"Well that sucks," I said stretching. "Any idea who it is?"

Eric was pale, even more than usual, "Melissa isn't answering her phone," he said, and my stomach hit the ground. Melissa is Eric's twin sister.


End file.
